Ranchi used to be the summer capital of (united) Bihar. The pleasant weather it offered in the summers during times other cities burnt in intolerable temperatures earned it the title. But those days have become history now. No longer morning are divine no longer evenings are romantic here. They are hot and humid.
For Bihar’s Chief Minister Nitish Kumar, Ranchi is not what it used to be. In mid-May this year he was in the city to attend a private function. He observed, “I had not expected Ranchi to be so hot, so humid. How it used to be summer capitalIJ These days even Patna is better than Ranchi weather-wise.”
The city used to be what it was because of huge forest cover that city boasted. “In 1983, almost 60 percent of geographical area of the city had forest cover,” says Dr. Sahdeo Ram of Survey of India’s Ranchi (SoI’s) Office. Department of Forest and Environment Jharkhand proclaims, in 2011, only 24.73 percent of GA is covered with forest.
Map of Ranchi city prepared by SoI in 2011 city stands denuded of greenery. It carried the green patches concentrated only in the eastern part of city with sporadic green patches in south and few green dots here and there. “But even the eastern green patches are under threat because they are maoist-infested areas. Anti-maoist campaign will adversely impact the existing forest cover,” he apprehended.
Ram zooms on thin lines on the maps that denoted small rivers and natural water bodies. “Rule says that no building can be constructed within 200ft of a small river and in case of big rivers the limit extends up to 500ft. But who cares!! Trees are cut and water bodies are surrounded by concrete buildings now. Harmoo River has been squeezed into a drain at some places. And this is just one example,” he points out.
As the world celebrates the World Environment Day today the city silently mourns this terrible transition. This transition is manifested in falls of city getting dried for more than two months a year for last seven-eight years. Earlier these falls were perennial source of water and attraction of tourists. Not for nothing Ranchi was called city of falls.
This is also manifested into water table going well below normal and huge number of existing boring getting failed. Humidity has gone beyond tolerance. Air conditions and other cooling devices were treated as vanity in city not long ago. But now they have become a priority for those who can anyhow afford it.
“The trees have been cut in huge numbers. Concrete buildings have been constructed. Hot air reflected through these concrete gets into environment and pushes the cloud into areas adjacent to Ranchi. Clouds precipitate into rain in those areas and not in Ranchi. This is called heat-island effect. Ranchi has been in this effect for not less than five years,” says Nitish Priyadarshi, a noted environmentalist.
With such terrible transition in weather the Ranchi residents who were used to to a pleasant evening can only say, “Woh shaam kuch ajeeb thi yeh shaam bhi ajeeb hai!”